We gotsa super-quickie 'fer'y'all today... a fine snap from your blogmeister's collection showing a Northrop N-3PB in service with 330 (Norwegian) Squadron of the RAF Coastal Command, 1941-42.
Enjoy...
Fade to Black...
Today we present a fine photo of the Westland Whirlwind. Introduced in mid‑1940, this twin‑engine fighter packed a punch with its four nose-mounted 20mm Hispanos and was a fine performer at low to medium altitudes. But production was limited to just 114 airframes, largely due to its troublesome Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines. Seeing service with just three RAF squadrons, the type was retired from frontline duty in late 1943, fading into relative obscurity thereafter...
Today we present one in a series we like to call 'Planes and Dames'. This time 'round the plane is an RAF Mustang, likely a Mk.I or IA, while the dame is a Dane named Vera Elise 'Toni' Strodl, one of just two female Danish pilots to see service during the Second World War and the only one to fly under the Union Jack.
Strodl flew as a 1st Officer with the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) from 1941 to 1945, having previously served as an inspector and test pilot for Taylorcraft Aeroplanes Limited (later Auster) in Rearsby, Leicestershire, England. She may have picked up the nickname 'Toni' at Taylorcraft, though we're not entirely certain on that. Whatever the case, the photo below (taken in November of 1942 by Reuben Saidman) appears in the Summer 1975 ish of 'Auster Quarterly', and she is identified as 'Toni Strodl'.
Anyhoo, while with the ATA she was assigned to No. 15 Ferry Pilot Pool at Hamble, then to No. 4 Ferry Pilot Pool at Prestwick, and mainly ferried birds that had come from across the pond to their ultimate destinations with operational RAF units. She also undoubtedly flew many aircraft to and from repair depots, and logged more than 200 flights with the ATA during the war.
Tip of the hat to this lovely lass from Danernes Land...
Your blogmeister likes his running series, but cannot recall if he's already started one in which today's photo would fit. And he's too lazy to go a'lookin' at the moment. So, we shall either begin or continue our running series known as 'How Low Can You Go?' with this here shot of a Vickers Wellington from 11 Operational Training Unit, Royal Air Force, beatin' up the field for an undoubtedly nervous but thrilled photographer at RAF Bassingbourn in July of 1940.
Enjoy... and duck...
Fade to Black...
